Some types of ink, for example, an Ultraviolet (UV) curable gel ink, can become very viscous or sticky after being applied to a substrate by the ink jet process and may exhibit an undesirable “corduroy” structure after being applied. For purposes of this disclosure, the noun substrate shall refer to the medium upon which the ink is applied, including, but not limited to, a porous substrate such as paper. For purposes of this disclosure, the adjective porous as applied to the substrate refers to the fact that the substrate includes pores that are permeable by the ink.
It would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for leveling the ink on the substrate without physically touching it with an object such as a brush or knife edge. It would also be desirable to prevent the ink from infusing significantly into the porous paper in order to maintain image quality and to enable the complete subsequent curing of the ink. Example embodiments described in this disclosure address these and other disadvantages of the related art.